It all began with a dream to do something for children. We picked Bajra first, a remote village in the outskirts of Ranchi, thinking that there would be no better service than educating children living here and shaping them into happy, confident and productive adults.

A close friend of mine Dr. Shivramakrishnan, my wife Vandana and I laid the foundation of St. Michael’s Kids School in 1997. The year kicked off with 13 children, 3 teachers and 2 ward boys. Our first annual sports day saw 13 parents in the audience. We celebrated all other important days of the year, arranged picnics, held arts and craft exhibitions and all academic and ECA classes that every school does. Gradually, the number of students increased to 44, 84 and then 127 in the subsequent years.

Witnessing the holistic growth of children in our school and our commitment, trust and honesty in our work, parents insisted that we arrange for higher classes for their wards. This led to the establishment of St. Michael’s School in Jajpur in 2008. Today we have 2,100 children and 94 staff members here.

This journey so far has not been easy, but definitely fulfilling. To begin with many families were not aware what good education could mean for their children. Others were not ready to send their kids to our school as there were bigger and more established schools around. I remember us going door to door telling parents about our ideas of education and teaching methods. Besides these, our expenses were more than what our budget permitted. For instance, we took special care to arrange transport for children living far off. Also, we had only one teacher for one student in class I.

I think parents saw our commitment towards education. We would not be here today if it were not for the blind support they offered us. And the work would not have been so joyful without our first three teachers Ms. Monica Das, Ms. Sushila Kerketta and Mr. Shyamal Rao, and our ward boy Sukra.

— By Mr. Kamal Behl